yannis D Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Last night i took out opf the closet my hammond melodica to bring it to a jazz trio gig. I wanted to take one or two solos with it for the pure fan of it. But, to my surprise, i realized that my upper G key is out of tune and became an F - one step down! I opened the thing but it seems that Hammond melodica is quite complicated instrument to fix. Do u guys have any idea how could i re-tune this particular key? thanx for any input yannis Be grateful for what you've got - a Nord, a laptop and two hands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blyons Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Go to melodicas.com and get yourself a file. You'll need a decent chromatic tuner too. I use a Korg tuner, but an old Conn Strobotuner would work nicely as well. Basically, you file metal off of the end to make a note go sharp and you file off the side where the reed attaches to the body to make the note go flat. You need to put a piece of paper under the reed while you're filing. You're better off only filing a little bit at a time. You can drive the note really flat and really sharp really quickly. As long as you're in there, you might as well check the tuning of all of the other notes too. Good Luck! Yamaha Motif XF8, Crumar Mojo, Roland AX Lucina, Presonus Studio One Professional Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhouse Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Quick note: You may want to rinse your saliva off the reeds before putting the thing away. Just do your best to dry them by tapping it out onto a paper towel. Yes, water can cause some damage, by dried saliva is much worse, especially for the intonation. American Keyworks AK24+ Diablo (with bow), Hammond L100, Korg M3 expanded, Korg Sigma, Yamaha MM8, Yamaha SY99 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoooombiex Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Did you try calling Hammond? When I spoke to them a few months ago they would re-tune your melodica for free. As for maintenance, definitely blow through it with the spit valve open periodically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yannis D Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 Thanx for the input guys. It seems complicated but its the only way to go. Hammond is too far away from me to get help from. I doubt there's someone around here to take care of the instrument and it gonna be too expensive to send the melodica over to the USA (it was bought there) Be grateful for what you've got - a Nord, a laptop and two hands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonksDream Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Yannis - you may want to look into someone in your area who does accordion tuning and repair. Instrumentation is meaningless - a song either stands on its own merit, or it requires bells and whistles to cover its lack of adequacy, much less quality. - kanker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yannis D Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 Yannis - you may want to look into someone in your area who does accordion tuning and repair. That's a good idea, MonksDream... I'd rather give it to someone with experience than mess around with it and destroy it... Be grateful for what you've got - a Nord, a laptop and two hands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linwood Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 I play a little harmonica and know of a lot of repair/builder guys around here. You could look for harmonica repair and find someone, as well. There are more of these guys around than you'd think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bourniplus Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Yannis - you may want to look into someone in your area who does accordion tuning and repair. Good idea. A whole step sounds suspicious, maybe the reed isn't vibrating freely. If you've never attempted to tune a reed before I wouldn't experiment on a Hammond melodica. It's not that hard but things can go bad... "Show me all the blueprints. I'm serious now, show me all the blueprints." My homemade instruments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yannis D Posted December 13, 2012 Author Share Posted December 13, 2012 Yannis - you may want to look into someone in your area who does accordion tuning and repair. Good idea. A whole step sounds suspicious, maybe the reed isn't vibrating freely. If you've never attempted to tune a reed before I wouldn't experiment on a Hammond melodica. It's not that hard but things can go bad... This is my fear, a hole step is too much... And BTW, melodica is not a very common intrument around here, so finding a dedicated repairman is not a simple task. I found someone through is site but i'm waiting for his responce. I think the Hammond is a very subtle instrument to fool around with, so waiting. At the worst case scenario, i'll get in conctact with Hammond in the USA, so i'll send it over there. Be grateful for what you've got - a Nord, a laptop and two hands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bourniplus Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Besides, tuning it up back to G would require taking away A LOT of material from the reed... Once you find out, please let us know how this turns out. "Show me all the blueprints. I'm serious now, show me all the blueprints." My homemade instruments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blyons Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 If it's a key up near the top, it doesn't take much filing to trim a whole step. And if you make a mistake, you just file on the other end. That's why I suggested filing a little bit at a time. Get a file and a cheap Schoenhut melodica or an old harmonica and practice your filing on that before you go to the Hammond. Yamaha Motif XF8, Crumar Mojo, Roland AX Lucina, Presonus Studio One Professional Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpl1228 Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2455294/scuse_me_while_I_whip_out_my_M#Post2455294 Roland RD-2000, Yamaha Motif XF7, Mojo 61, Invisible keyboard stand (!!!!!), 1939 Martin Handcraft Imperial trumpet "Everyone knows rock music attained perfection in 1974. It is a scientific fact." -- Homer Simpson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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